21. The unreal appears as real, as the shadow seems to be the substance. Our notions of things are the properties of our nature. (i.e. They are natural to us, as they are engrafted in it by the eternal mind).
22. The manner in which the intellect exhibited itself, in its different manifestations, at the beginning, the same continues in its course to this time, and is known as the samvid-kachana or manifestations of consciousness, which constitute the niyati—course or system of the universe.
23. The sky is the manifestation of the intellectual idea of vacuity in the divine mind; and the idea of duration in the intellect, appeared in the form of the parts of time.
24. The idea of liquidity evolved itself in the form of water in the divine mind; in the same manner as one dreams of water and seas in his own mind. (So the air and earth are manifestations of the ideas of fluidity and solidity).
25. We are conscious of our dreams in some particular state of our intellect, and it is the wonderfully cunning nature of the intellect, that makes us think the unreal as real.
26. The ideas of the reality of earth, air, fire and water are all false; and the intellect perceives them within itself, as its false dreams and desires and reveries.
27. Now hear me tell you about death, for removing your doubts with regard to the future state; that death is destined for our good, in as much as it leads us to the enjoyment of the fruits of acts in this life.
28. Our lives are destined in the beginning to extend to one, two, three and four centuries in the different Kali, Dwápara, Tretá and Satya ages of the world. (Corresponding with the golden, silver, brazen and iron ages of the ancients).
29. It is however by virtue of place and time, of climate and food, and our good or bad actions and habits, that human life extends above or descends below these limits.
30. Falling short of one’s duties lessens his life, as his excelling in them lengthens its duration; but the mediocrity of his conduct keeps it within its proper bound.